Notes and Editorial Reviews

Leonard Bernstein’s original score for the 1950 Broadway musical version of J.M. Barrie’s
Peter Pan has been locked away for over a half century. Now for the first time, this forgotten classic can be experienced in its entirety in a new fully orchestrated recording making this the first-ever documentation of the complete Bernstein score. This newly revived work, under acclaimed conductor Alexander Frey, features vocals by Broadway star Linda Eder singing the part of Wendy and versatile American baritone Daniel Narducci as Captain Hook.

R E V I E W S:

"Like the operetta "Candide" (1956), to which it bears an occasional resemblance, "Peter Pan" falls between the smash hits "OnRead more the Town" (1944) and "West Side Story" (1957), which belong to a different world. "Plank Round," a taunt sung as the Lost Boys await a watery death, is expanded from a single verse to a rip-snorting three, jazzed up with a wild little ritornello that might have been torn from a switched-on "Brandenburg" Concerto. A mermaids' chorus called "Neverland," presented for the first time, brings to mind lazy, sensual pages from Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé...but this album is not just about the songs. The incidental music, all heard here for the first time, is also bewitching. Flight and skirmishes are expertly evoked, and the thematic developments are nifty...the pirate songs and the love songs could be stitched into a charming suite. They are quality fare. Children attending concerts deserve music this good, and so do their parents."
- Matthew Gurewitsch, NEW YORK TIMES

"Alexander Frey, upon learning that a song Leonard Bernstein had written for the 1950 production of Peter Pan had been cut before the show opened, wondered if there was other music originally intended for the production that went by the wayside. After some searching, he found an entire score composed by Bernstein that nearly no one knew existed. While songs by Bernstein were retained for the production (Bernstein did his own lyrics), his incidental music was replaced by the music of Alec Wilder, and much of it had never been heard, recorded, or, in some cases, even orchestrated. This welcome, and mostly excellent, recording is the result of Frey’s seven years of musicological digging in search of this score. For those of us familiar with the already extant songs, as well as those of us for whom Bernstein’s work in general is a national treasure, the recording is a wonderful gift. Frey has restored the entire score from manuscript materials and other sources; they have been completely orchestrated; and Bernstein’s interpretation of the classic J. M. Barrie tale is at long last available."
- Jim Lovensheimer, OperaToday.comRead less